Europe

LONDON: Emerging equities were at their highest levels for more than two weeks on Monday as a rally based on diminishing prospects of a mid-year U.S. rate rise kept going.The MSCI emerging stocks index rose 0.2 percent while the Asia Pacific excluding Japan benchmark gained 0.3 percent.Speculation mounted that a rising dollar, that had lured money out of other assets, may have run its course."Markets are choppy right now, there is no clear trend, a lot of it is technical," Societe Generale head of emerging markets strategy, Benoit Anne, said."What happens to the dollar is key - if this is the beginning of a huge dollar correction, that is a different story, but it is way to early to make that call."Adding to bullishness in Asia was a near 2 percent gain in Shanghai, fuelled by hopes for more policy stimulus to prop up the ailing local property sector.With Brent ...

PARIS: European shares slipped from multi-year highs on Monday, as a new bout of worries concerning Greece led investors to book profits on the market's solid start to 2015.Shares in Pirelli outperformed, rising 2.5 percent after China National Chemical Corp agreed to buy the Italian tyre maker in a 7.1 billion euro ($7.66 billion) deal.The acquisition, agreed with Pirelli shareholders on Sunday, will see state-owned ChemChina take over the world's fifth-largest tyre maker and one ...

PARIS: European shares slipped on Monday, taking a breather following recent sharp gains, while shares in Pirelli rose 2.1 percent after China National Chemical Corp agreed to buy the tyre maker in a 7.1 billion euro deal.The acquisition, agreed with Pirelli shareholders on Sunday, will see state-owned ChemChina take over the world's fifth-largest tyre maker and one of the symbols of Italy's manufacturing industry.At 0805 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was ...

LONDON: Britain's benchmark share index reached record highs on Thursday, with gold miners outperforming, after the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England both dampened prospects of interest rate rises in the near term. The FTSE 100 index rose as much as 0.5 percent to a record high of 6,982.79 points, beating the earlier record of 6,974.26 points set on March 2. It closed 0.3 percent higher, up 17.12 points at 6,962.32. Traders said the ...

LONDON/PARIS: A broad index of European shares hit its highest level in 15 years on Thursday, led by Italian stocks thanks to sharp gains in tyre maker Pirelli and utility Enel. Shares in Enel rose 1.9 percent after it said it aims to raise profits and dividends over the next five years by focusing on emerging markets and green energy. Writedowns caused its 2014 net profit to fall 84 percent. Pirelli rose 3.3 percent and ...

LONDON: The British stock market rallied Thursday to a record peak, propelled by optimism over the government's budget and after the US Federal Reserve cooled rate hike expectations.Most eurozone stock markets edged higher but Athens fell sharply as investors awaited an EU summit for fresh news on the Greek debt crisis.In morning deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index soared to a record-high 6,982.79 points, building on gains won the previous day after the British government's ...